Alright, so the chaos of stuff at last is mostly put away. After months of being separated from my good old desk and piano-bench combo (a Bellingham curbside find which has become my studio standby) my first priority was to set up a workstation in the studio/office room.
The ways that various people arrange their work space has always fascinated me. I tend to always set up my space the same way no matter how many times I move: a wall of colorful paintings, posters, and trinkets for inspiration, my funky uneven shelving unit holding an array of art supplies, a magnetic strip to hold my sketches.
Some new additions this time around include Pantone boxes, bike gears, and an up-cycled art "frame" (DIY tip after the jump).
I've been thinking lately about creating a book/photo-essay on the work spaces of various artists, musicians, and crafters in the greater Seattle area. It's going to be a big project, but the idea of visiting and photographing peoples' studios (particularly in a raw, honest condition) is really exciting to me. Toss me an email if you or someone you know would be
interested in participating (izzybell6@gmail.com). Think of it as free publicity. I intend to call it "Maker's Space: Seattle" and would like to have it finished by next fall.
I am not a fan of conceptual art, at least not when I am REQUIRED to make it, but the design I ended up with shows potential. I'm trying to think now of how I can use this "sculpture" as something else. Perhaps if I used patterned paper I could turn a bunch of these into a garland? Or connect them to string lights as little lanterns? Any ideas?
On Sunday I'll be taking a quick little trip to Bellingham to catch up with the folks at Jinx Art Space, who I intend to feature in my book "Maker's Space:Seattle". I'll be playing at a songwriter slam at the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern (owned by my dear friend James Harnesty) and am scrambling to finish the album art for my solo CD. Fortunately one of my mid-term assignments is to do just that! Here's the cover.
With our rather small budget, we've decided to focus first on our bathroom. The antique claw-foot bathtub has inspired us to go for a sort of steampunk look. Our eventual plan is to paint the trim to look like old brass and add some sort of delicate Victorian wallpaper element to the lower section of the walls. For now we're keeping an eye out for old industrial-looking objects which will later be the detail that ties the theme together.
Our first find comes from the kind of place I generally refer to as a "junk shop"(in a Orwell/1984 reference kind of way). There are several of these delightfully un-curated stores scattered around Capitol Hill. Sifting through the shelves and piles of interesting antique objects we found an old (working) army flashlight and some sort of small brass pail whose original use is unknown. The two objects together cost us less than $10 and had a convincing industrial look once combined. Toss some tea-lights on the shelves, turn on the flashlight and bam, super nice atmosphere. 
